EPM rejects myths about Medellín water cuts: They are not linked to income levels or consumption

EPM has rejected claims that scheduled water cuts in northeastern Medellín are linked to residents’ income levels or water consumption. The utility said the interruptions reflect technical conditions and declining water availability in its reservoirs.

The measures affect areas including Popular, Manrique, Aranjuez, Villa Hermosa, Buenos Aires and La Candelaria. Residents in the affected circuits will face 11-hour night-time interruptions every other day as the city responds to drought conditions and gradually falling water flows.

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I want to inform you that the interruptions in northeastern Medellín are due solely to technical reasons. We constantly monitor the levels of our reservoirs and the flows of the sources that feed them.

Santiago Wilches Yepes, EPM’s manager for water and sewerage, said the company continuously monitors its infrastructure, reservoir levels and the flows feeding the reservoirs. He identified the critical level of the Piedras Blancas reservoir as the main source of the problem because it directly supplies the distribution network in the affected part of the city.

Wilches said the reservoir’s remaining volume was very small. Without the scheduled measures, he said, Piedras Blancas could lose the ability to supply the entire community within 15 days. He added that the area belongs to the interconnected system, but that the system cannot supply the whole territory.

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At this moment, it is important to emphasize that the Piedras Blancas reservoir has a very small volume and, according to our projections, if we do not take these measures, in 15 days the reservoir could be unable to supply our entire community.